Newly-minted PhD in a heavily male-dominated field, struggling with all the typical work-life balance issues as I try to find a post-PhD job while taking care of my two sons, LL and Kermit.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

9 Months In, 9 Months Out

Yep, Kermit turns 9 months old tomorrow. I'm not feeling very eloquent these days, but I can manage bullet points:

- S and I usually bet on an over-under line for baby weights at well-baby checkups. S picked the line today at 21 pounds, and I took the under, because I thought that Kermit would be closer to 20 pounds. Also, at this age, LL weighed in at a svelt 19 pounds and change. But our tiny little Kermit, who still barely eats, tipped the scales at 21 pounds 13 ounces, putting him at the 83rd percentile. The only time either of my kids has ever been above 80th percentile, it has been for head size.

- Kermit also has a big head.

- After getting two teeth at four months of age, Kermit drooled and chewed for five months but made no further progress. On Monday, I discovered four new teeth. At his doctor's appointment today, Dr. K discovered two more. So Kermit sprouted six new teeth this week, and now has his full set of eight front teeth. That would explain the lack of sleep this week....

- Kermit is crawling. Big time. Nothing is safe.

- Kermit pulls himself up on everything, including things that are seriously not stable. (Ever seen a 22 pound baby pull himself up on an empty laundry basket?) And he's starting to cruise. Dr. K predicts that he will be an early walker. I predict that we are in trouble, because our house is not babyproof anymore.

- Last week, Kermit got his first pair of shoes. They're adorable.

- Any suggestions for how to keep an extremely mobile and extremely oral nine-month-old from killing himself by choking on the toys that your three-year-old leaves scattered all over the house? LL is pretty good about cleaning up his toys, but he is still barely three, so legos and other small parts still end up abandoned on the floor sometimes, and I'm constantly grabbing them moments before Kermit jams them down his throat.

- In the food department, Kermit is lukewarm about being spoon fed, but loves loves loves finger food. Peaches, avocado, applesauce, mango, shredded chicken, and cheerios are the current favorites. Last night, he enjoyed his first artichoke. (Side note: feeding artichoke to a baby is a pain in the butt.) He has also discovered that straw cups are the greatest invention of all time. No matter what he is doing, he gets very serious and concentrates when offered a straw cup of water.

- Kermit responds to his name. It's very sweet. We can't tell how much more he understands, but he definitely knows when we're talking to him.

- He's starting to figure out clapping. Especially after knocking down a tower of blocks, which is the current favorite game.

- Over the last month, we have gradually been weaning Kermit off of swaddling. At first, we were occasionally leaving one arm free. This week, we switched him from swaddling to a sleepsack. He now insists on sleeping clutching his security blanket, which is very cute. But it is taking him forever to fall asleep, because he keeps stroking my face and giggling instead of going to sleep.

- I would say that he isn't sleeping as well since we stopped swaddling, but he wasn't sleeping well before, either. He's still waking up once or twice a night to eat. He no longer goes back to sleep easily, and is often up for an hour or more in the middle of the night. The combination of teething, learning to crawl, separation anxiety, swaddling cessation, and yet another mild head cold have made the sleep problems inevitable, so I'm just hoping that everything happening all at once means that we can move on from it all, too.

- Good lord, I need more sleep. Soon.

- S's parents are visiting this weekend, and they are so excited to see Kermit crawling and playing and being all interactive. Yay!

- In addition to all of Kermit's recent advances, this has been a monumentally bizarre week for me, but I should leave the rest of it for a separate post. Discussions of SWAT team manhunts for crazed gunmen in my neighborhood probably do not belong in the same post as my baby boy's 9 month birthday.

3 comments:

Our trick to avoid choking hazards is that the fusspot is -never- allowed to put her little toys on the floor. We have a number of places dedicated to her "big girl toys" including a desk in her room, a little tiny table in the kitchen, and the dining room table (i.e. the living room/my office). Of course things still fall, but this way at least it's never an issue of forgetting to clean up or a too mobile child.

We have a few containers of "sometimes toys". I keep things like the teeny tiny people and the barbie shoes in them. Elizabeth has to ask before she's allowed to use them and the containers are labeled with how many pieces belong in them. We don't do that with all the tiny things because we don't have a permanent baby here, but we do have enough baby friends that visit that I am careful to keep most of the stuff put away.

And yes, I have seen a 22 pound baby pull themselves up on an empty laundry basket. And a very wobbly DVD stand.

About Me

Short Background

S and I have been married for eight years, and we've been together for more than a dozen. While I was in school working on my PhD, we managed to have two kids: our preschooler son, LL, was born in September 2008, and our infant son, Kermit, was born in January 2011. Now that my PhD is mercifully behind me, I'm spending all my time reading Green Eggs and Ham ad nauseam, playing endless rounds of peekaboo, and preparing myself to start a full-time post-PhD job.

"500 Days" Goals

1. Have two happy kids - done!2. Finish my PhD - done!3. Own a new (bigger) house.4. Work in a job that I enjoy. (I start in December!)5. Bring both kids to visit my parents at least once - done!6. Bring both kids to visit my in-laws at least once - done!7. Pay off all debt except the mortgage.8. Lose all pregnancy and fertility treatment weight from both pregnancies. (12 pounds to go)9. Breast feed Kermit for one year.(Sadly, 5 months was all.)10. Cook dinner at home 5 days each week. So far so good!11. Read 10 fiction books. (So far: 1/10)12. Learn objective-c. (Making progress...)13. Learn perl.14. Have permanent assigned "homes" for most objects in the house.15. Update work wardrobe.16. Shower every day.17. Wear makeup every work day.

Goals established here on 10/21/2010.Update at 100 Days here.Update at 200 Days here.Update at 300 Days here.To be completed by 3/4/2012.

DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor, or anything resembling a medical expert. Any medical or scientific information contained in these pages are things that I've picked up from a variety of (possibly unreliable) sources. You should consult a medical expert before acting on anything that I've said.